Desperatly needing help

06-20-2008, 04:51 PM

I'm having terrible difficulties with breastfeeding. I tried going to a LLLC meeting but didn't make it. The hour and a half drive took 3 hrs to get there and I showed up late (she decided she didn't want to be in a car seat). So I'm looking for any suggestions. I finally figured out why my little girl wouldn't latch on the right to work for her milk. She has thrush again. We are in the process of trying to get her better (4 days into treatment). However in the time it took me to discover this i have greatly lost my milk supply on the right. The left is all she will feed off of because that's the side with the heaviest let down. I've tried all the things listed on kelly mom for encouraging her to the right to build up the milk supply on the right and cause a better letdown. There is one thing that I can't find the answer to. My dd is 3 months old and is very stubborn when she wants to be. when i try to latch her hourly (because I can't get any milk to come out of me with a pump, even in the tub) she becomes very anrgy with me and starts to cry. If i insert my nipple into her mouth she mearly bites down with all her mite and tries to pull it away from my breast What do I do? She won't feed off the right until I build my supply but if i attempt to latch her she bites. The pump won't get any milk out. Any suggestions on how i can discourage her from biting?? and increase my milk on that side??? Thank you for any suggestions you can thing of.

What a difficult situation to be in. Did you get a LLL's number to talk to them more? Most leaders are happy to take calls for as long as moms need their help.

Why did they think she wasn't latching to the right side?

Many young infants bite because they are trying to get milk out, that may explain why she is biting. It could also a form of defense.

I don't know how comfortable you are with it, but it's not uncommon to nurse only on one side. We have two breasts in the event that we have twins. There is no rule that says you must nurse on both sides. Some have luck offering the disliked side when the babies are very sleepy or having them suckle while asleep as some like to comfort nurse during their naps.

It sounds like it is really stressing you and her out. It may be a good idea to just lay off the right side for a while if you feel comfortable doing that. Some children just will not nurse off of one side regardless of the mom's efforts. If she becomes more open to that side, or at least for pacifying, the milk will come back as long as you are nursing. It isn't uncommon for one to be a much stronger producer than the other.

Other ideas I have are trying to pump on the right side with a manual pump while she's nursing on the left. I found the Medela Harmony to be great to pump while nursing with its design. If you haven't already, you can try many different positions to see if she is simply particular of the position she's held in on that side.

I'm a LLL volunteer for my local group. I'm happy to talk to you more about it if you need it too! Just PM me.

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i'm sorry you're having so much trouble! but i'm glad you've found an answer as to what may be going on. i second pumping on the right while she's nursing and also the positioning. she may like laying on her right side while nursing on the left. try laying her on her right side and offering your right side, just scoot her over a bit or use more of a football hold.

another thought, if she has thrush, she could have other infections. if she is really adverse to nursing on her left side, it could be an ear infection. have you had that checked?

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I nursed my DD on one breast for a short time..it is stressful not knowing many who have and the worry..I still did not nurse her though long term on one so my experince is short lived...try the other suggestions here from PP....

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I agree that manually pumping that breast while she's nursing off the other side is a good idea, and I also wanted to suggest trying to offer her the un-wanted side when she is half asleep in the middle of the night. My ds had an aversion to my right side for quite a while because the let-down on the other side was much faster, but he would usually take the right side if he was half asleep and didn't really realize what side I was offering.

Good luck... you can do this, we are here for you! Also, if you don't mind me asking, how are you treating the thrush? I had thrush on and off(more on ) for 6 months, so if you have any questions about treatment options, I might be able to help. It can be ah, very persistant, you could say.

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I don't mind nursing off of one side but her doctor told me that she's not gaining enough weight off of one side and i need to encourage her to the other. She will take the unwanted one in her sleep, so i've only been feeding of the right during the night until i'm sure there is nothing left in it then i offer her the other. Same thing through out the day. I offer the right everytime but if it's a no i offer the left.
If i'm pumping the right and nothing is coming out will it eventually increase the supply??

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Sorry realized after i logged off i didn't answer one of the questions. For treatment we're rinsing her mouth with an anti-fungal, seralizing her soothers and the breast pumps (manual and electric) for 20 min in a rolling boil, washing her hands every 24 hours with soapy water (as she has them in her mouth all the time) and we're testing my breast milk because i now have deep breast pain (almost like someone's put tiger balm inside my breast when i'm having a let down) and that's a sign that their is a yeast infection in my breast. but until we get the results i use the same anti-funal we're using on her on me as well. Is there anything else I should know about that could possibly reinfecting her?

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I'd suggest also Grapefruit Seed extract, 2 250mg pills 3 x a day (as per Dr. Jay Gordon and Dr. Hale recommendations for systematitic yeast(thrush). I have it in my ducts as well but my PCP refuses to prescribe diflucan despite Newman's and Gordan's recommendations to use it after other treatments have failed. So I'm given the GSE one last shot with a course of Gentian Violet for my two nurslings.

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I'd suggest also Grapefruit Seed extract, 2 250mg pills 3 x a day (as per Dr. Jay Gordon and Dr. Hale recommendations for systematitic yeast(thrush). So I'm given the GSE one last shot with a course of Gentian Violet for my two nurslings.

Exactly this. Taking probiotics (grapefruit seed extract capsules as well as acidophiolus -- you can get both at most health food stores) on a daily basis is what finally helped me to kick the thrush to the curb permanently. Probiotics put the "healthy yeast" back in your body and help you to fight off the infection. Even if the thrush seems to have gone, I would keep taking at least the GSE every day, if not both, as a preventative. For a good month or two, I would say....when I was taking it I thought I might have to keep taking it for the rest of my nursing *career* -- thankfully this was not the case!

In addition, you could try the Gentian Violet to try to get faster results. I would call around to your local pharmacy and see if they have it. I have found it both at Walgreens and CVS, and it cost me just over a dollar. Careful though, it's like this messy bright purple paint that seems to get everywhere. The best way I have found to use it so that both you and baby get treated is to paint your nipples with it, and then let baby nurse...this way she gets just enough in her mouth to treat it, and you get treated too(I have read that it can cause mouth sores in baby's mouth if too much is used, so I was nervous about applying it to myself as well as to ds). Do that no more than once a day, for a week. I had to do this a few different times, like I said the thrush can be very persistant and kept coming back for me. It wasn't until I was taking the probiotics on a regular basis that it finally went away.

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I wanted to add that you can try using your hands to express rather than a pump. Some people respond better to skin on skin expression instead of using a machine. It's somewhat harder to get down, but once you do, you might get even more milk out. Talk to your lll leader about how to hand express. They have a specific technique that's supposed to work very well.